Improvement in electric oil-testers



No. 218,066. Patented July 29,1879.

Fig.1

rLPETERs, FNDTO-LITHOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. u C.

' ZSheets-Sheii GQM. SAYBOLT, Electric Oil-Tester.

him 218,066. atnte July 29,1879.-

Fl 3 Atiesis InveYfl/or UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE M. SAYBOLT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO LOOKWOODBROTHERS 81; HOLLY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRIC OIL-TESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 218,066, dated July 29,1879; application filed April 14, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE M. SAYBOLT, of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inOil-Testers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexeddrawings, making part hereof.

The nature of my invention will be fully shownin thefollowingspecification and claims.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, Iwill describe its construction and mode of operation.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my apparatus 5 Fig.2, a cross-sectional view of the reservoir-bath and the oil-cup; Fig. 3.a rear view, showing one arrangement of the wires leading from thebattery to the cup.

A is a table to support the apparatus; B, a back to the same, sustainingthe electrical conducting-wires; G, the reservoir to contain water forheating the oil-cup; D, a lamp for heating the water in reservoir 0; E,a small bar or platform (made of hard rubber, in practice) to sustainthe pivoted ends G G of the conducting-wires; F, a thermometer, toindicate the heat of the oil. G G G G G G are the pivoted ends of theconducting-wires; H, a key; I, an induction-coil; J, a switch. K K arethe batteries. L is an oil-cup, held suspended in the reservoir or bath0. g g g are the points at which the conductor ends of wires G G G, &c.,are pivoted to the main wires. M and N are the two electric points(positive and negative) for producing the spark. They pass,respectively, from the pivoted ends G G through the non-conductingrubber bar E, almost meeting beneath it, and immediately above thesurface of the oil in cup L. O P R S T U U V W are wires leading fromthe battery to the coil I and wires G G G G G G".

The operation is as follows: The reservoirO is first partially (nearlywholly) filled with hot water at a temperature of about 100 Fahrenheit.The oil to be tested is then placed in cup L, which is nearly filled.Now, as I wish to test the oil in that particular cup to ascertain itsfire-test, I turn the switch-handle J to the middle point, 2. Thepivoted ends G G G are connected with the induction-coil by wires W, U,and U, and the induction-coil is connected with the battery-jar K bymeans of wire P. The jars ofthe battery are connected by a wire betweenthem. The switch-pivot is connected with the induction-coil by means ofwire V. The wire 0 passes from the induction-coil to the key H. This keyis also connected with the battery-jar K by means of wire 0. The circuitbetween wires 0 and O is broken by the key when the latter is open, andthe circuit is closed when the key is shut. Now, the points 1, 2, and 3of the switch J are connected with pivoted ends G G G", respectively, bythe wires S, T, and B, respectively, the wire V being attached to thepivot of switch J, so that as the handle of switch J is moved to any oneof points 1, 2, or 3, a current of electricity shoots through that pointand the Wires connected with it. Now, the battery K K being inoperation, and it being desired to apply a spark at intervals to the cupL to as certain its fire-test, the switch if is, as mentioned above andas shown in the drawings, turned to point 2, which completes a circuitfrom the pivot of the switch to the point 2. When the cup L, filled withoil, is placed in the bath of water in reservoir 0, the said water beingat 100 Fahrenheit, the oil will rapidly rise in temperature to nearly orabout 94 Fahrenheit, and this may possibly be the temperature at whichit will burn, so it is tested at that temperature. indicate itstemperature, as the bulb of this thermometer rests in the oil, as showniii Fig. 2. I now close the circuit of my electrical apparatus bytouching and bearing down upon key H, which causes a spark to flashbetween the points M and N, Fig. 2. As a vapor or gas is constantlyrising from the surface of the oil as it is heated, the spark will setfire to or flash ofl" this gas. If the oil is at such a temperature thatit will burn'in contact with fire, this flash will set fireto the oil,and the temperature at which this burningoccurs will be its fire-test.If it does not burn at this test, the lamp D is lighted; which heats thewater, (whose temperature. is determined by the thermometer F,) and thewater in turn The thermometer 13 will heats up the oil. As the oilbecomes more highly heated, the sparks from points M N are repeateduntil the vapor or gaseous flashes set fire to it, when the temperatureis immediately noted upon thermometer F, and the fire-test is thusdetermined.

As the wires G G are connected with cup L and reservoirt, so wires G Gand wires Gr and G" may be connected with other cups and reservoirs,electric communication with which can be established by means of switchJ and its points 1, 2, and 3 in the same manner as is above describedwith regard to cup L, and the number of points 1, 2, and 3 and cups Land reservoir 0 may be increased to any desired extent, the whole beingmanaged by a single operator stationed at the key Il. AS each cupincreases in heat he can continuously apply his tire-test, thusdetermining the test of each cup of oil in succession.

It will be noticed that my cup L hasits cylindrical portion or bodycarried up above the surrounding flange or rim,upon which it rests inreservoir 0. This construction is to prevent any water which may be uponthe top of reservoir (J from running into the cup; to facilitatemeasuring the quantity of oil which I wish to placein the cup, as Igenerally fill my cup to a point much higher than shown in the drawings,in fact nearly upto the upper edge of the cup; and it also prevents theoil, from capillary attraction, working up onto the greasy rim orflange.

I purpose applying for Letters Patent upon this construction of cup in aseparate application, as also upon the conical shape of myreservoirshown in Fig. 2, whiehshows thefrnsturn of a cone.

I do not limit myself to the precise form of apparatus shown, as any oneskilled in the art can see that it is capable of much variation.

Instead of the reservoir shown at U, a hotair chamber may be set betweenthe water and the cup L, or a hot-air chamber may be used alone; but inthe latter case the heat would not be so uniform as when one of theother methods above described is used.

All these methods are equivalent modes of obtaining the sameresult-viz., the heating of the oil.

My apparatus is applicable to petroleum and all kinds of oils, and tothe products of petroleum, naphtha, and analogous liquids ortluids.

The cupsin which oil is tested, as described above, are very small, and,from their slight bulk, the oil is easily susceptible to the influencesof whatever in the shape of tire, flame, or heat is brought near to it.

By the old process of waving a flame over the surface of the oil toignite the vapor, that surface was undoubtedly heated up; and as it iswell known that the heated particles of oil will remain at the top, itfollows that the temperature at the top of the oil was greater than thatat the bottom, and really greater than the temperature indicated by thethermometer; and as the oil would ignite at its test-heat at thesurface, it would catch fire at a temperature not indicated, and thetest would be really valueless. Again, the approach of the large flamewould not only heat the surface of the oil, but would heat the vaporsalso, so that they would flash more readily and sooner than was desired.In fact, the flame used to test the oil was a heat-producing agent initself, and so rendered the test comparatively valueless because ofheating the oil at the surface, while the bulb of the thermometer issunk into the body of the oil.

By my invention an electric spark is flashed through the vapor atintervals, and with such rapidity as to haveno practical influence uponthe oil itself. This is the great advantage of my invention overprevious methods, while at the same time the rapidityand ease with whichone man can make these tests also recommend it.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isv 1. In combination with the cup L andreservoir (J of an oil fire-tester, an electrical apparatus so arrangedthat an electrical spark from the apparatus flashes the vapor of theoil, whereby the fire-test of the latter is determined, substantially asdescribed.

2. In combination with the cup Land reservoirU of an oil fire-tester, anelectrical apparatus so arranged thatan electrical spark from theapparatusflashcs the vaporof the oil, whereby the tirc-test of thelatter is determined, and a switch, J, and key H, whereby two or morecups of oil heating at the same time may be tested successively bysimply turning the switch and operating the key, substantially asdescribed.

GEO. M. SAYBOLT.

Witnesses:

GEORGE E. BUoKLEY, HENRY V. BUoKLEY.

